Sale of Cherry School delayed by questions

The Door County Board Tuesday postponed acting an option to buy the former Cherry School in the town of Sevastopol due to unanswered questions, according to county Corporation Counsel and acting County Administrator Grant Thomas.

The one-room school was built in the early 20th century as the Sevastopol School District No. 3 building, at the intersection of Cherry Road (County HH) and Gordon Road (County BB).

There were seven other numbered single-room school buildings that all eventually were merged into the present school district with buildings in Institute.

The building remained in use as a Sevastopol School District classroom until the 1960s, after which Door County bought the building for special education programs.

When those programs were eliminated in favor of mainstreaming of special ed students, the county, in 1985, sold the building to the nonprofit Door County Community Child Care Services, Incorporated, which operated a child care center there until last December.

A provision in the sale agreement called for Door County to have the option to buy back the property for $38,000, plus the cost of any improvements the nonprofit made to the property.

The County Board voted last month to exercise the option.

Thomas told supervisors Tuesday he doesn’t have a clear idea whether any improvements were made.

A question also remains on whether a lot acquired by the child care group is included in the option price, Thomas said.

In addition, the corporation counsel said he hasn’t yet been able to reach the people in the child care group who have the authority to act on behalf of the organization.